Poland was the principal focus of
military transport for the Germans after June 1941. The
country acted as a conduit for the front in Russia.
Therefore, there were many targets for the Polish resistance movement and from
June 1941 to December 1941, they destroyed 1,935 railway
engines, derailed 90 trains, blew up three bridges and set fire to 237 transport
lorries. However, such a success came at a cost as the reprisals by the Germans
was savage in the extreme. In fact, so extreme was the German reaction, that the
Polish resistance all but ended its work for about 10 months in 1942.
SOE in London could not effectively assist the Poles because the distance was
simply too great for SOE to overcome.

As in Czechoslovakia,
the resistance movement in Poland was fragmented by politics. A government in
exile existed in London but a “Union of Polish Patriots” was formed in
Moscow in direct competition to the London government. During 1942, Polish
communists were dropped into Poland to set up the “Worker’s Party”. This
was to include a resistance movement called the “People’s Guard”.

The response in London was for
Chief-of-Staff General Sikorski to reorganise the resistance movement in Poland
that was loyal to the exiled government. It was inevitable that both would
clash. Matters were not improved when the Germans found the bodies of 4,500
Polish officers at Katyn Wood. The Russians were held responsible for this and
their refusal to allow an enquiry by the International Red Cross only confirmed
to non-communists in Poland that Stalin’s government was responsible for these
murders.

However, the non-communist Polish
resistance force had to accept the inevitable – Russia would get to Poland
before the Allies. The AK (Armia Krajowa) was led by General Bor-Komorowski
after June 1943 (its previous leader, Rowecki was
arrested in that month) and he drew up a plan to accommodate Russia’s
advance. His plan was that the AK should continue with its policy of sabotage
and intelligence gathering. This intelligence would go to both the Russians and
to Britain. In January 1944, the AK actually got hold of
parts of a V1 and sent them to London. While Russia
and the Allies continued to launch major attacks on the retreating Wehrmacht,
the AK used diversionary guerrilla attacks to split the Germans military
resources. The final part of Bor-Komorowski’s
plan was called “Rising”. It was for a general uprising throughout Poland
led by the AK. The final part of the plan was never fully implemented primarily
due to the speed of the Russian advance. However, whenever, the Red Army came
across units of the AK movement, it disarmed them. For the Russians, it was of
much greater value for the 'People's Guard' to have the upper hand within
Poland.

By the spring of 1944, the Polish resistance was
thought to number 400,000. The government in exile played a key part in running
the non-communist resistance in Poland – far more freedom than any other
government in exile within Britain was allowed. The Polish resistance was very
well organised and at one time there were over 100 radio stations broadcasting
in occupied Poland.